Ch 14 battle for Minas Tirith part 1
Lin stands on the rampart with the soldiers of Gondor, and watches as the orcs swarm Osgilith and prepare to attack Minis Tirith.
"What of Theoden's riders? Will Rohan's army come?" a soldier asks.
"Courage is the best defense you have." Gandalf said.
"As well as your duty to defend this city, no matter what." Lin said.
Lin left the wall and headed to the armory, knowing she needed all the weapons she could carry. To her surprise, she found Faramir putting on armor.
"Faramir, what are you doing?" Lin asked.
"I've been ordered by my father to retake Osgilith." Framir said.
"That's a suicide mission! You can't retake the city. You best chance is to stay here and fight it out." Lin said.
"I must do what my father says. He's the lord and steward of Gondor." Faramir said.
"Faramir, you won't make it back. I promise you that. You and whoever else goes, will die there. You won't get 5 inches out the city gates before you get killed. Just stay." Lin said.
"I'm sorry. My mind is made up. I will go through with this." Faramir says as he puts on his helmet and grabs his weapons.
Faramir walks towards the entrance and begins to walk by Lin when he stops and says "Should I fall, protect my people. Finish what I could not."
Lin sighed in annoyance and grabbed a bow and as much arrows as she could carry.
Faramir rides through the streets of the city with a group of soldiers, on their way to retake Osgilith. The people of the city watch them go by, sad looks of despair mirrored on their faces. The woman toss flowers at the horse's feet, and hand out small bouquets to the soldiers. Many of the soldiers know they will not make it back.
"Faramir! Faramir!" Gandalf shouts, breaking into the ranks.
"Your father's will has turned to madness! Don't throw away your life so rashly." Gandalf says, walking next to Faramir.
"I already talked to your earth bender. Where does my allegiance lie if not here?" Faramir asks.
Gandalf stops and watches Faramir ride away.
"Your father loves you, Faramir. He will remember it before the end." Gandalf says.
On top of the walls, Lin watches as they ride out towards Osgilith, a look of disgust on her face.
The soldiers form ranks, and ride towards Osgilith. Orcs in the ruined city raise their heads and watch the incoming riders.
In the great hall, Denethor continues to eat his meal as Pippen watches.
"Can you sing, master Hobbit?" Denethor asks.
"Well, yes. Enough for my people. But we have no songs for great halls and evil times." Pippen says.
"Why should your songs be unfit for my halls? Sing me a song." Denethor says.
"Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread,
Through shadow, to the edge of night,
Until all the stars are all alight.
Mist and shadow, cloud and shade,
All shall fade! All shall fade…"
As Pippen sang his song to Denethor, Lin watches Faramir and his riders approach Osgilith, halfway across. The orcs aim their bows and unleash a large volley of arrows, heading right towards the riders…
Lin clenched her left fist in anger and headed to the great hall, where she saw Denathor eating his food, and Pippen standing aside.
"Pippen, I need to talk to Denethor. I suggest you leave for a bit." Lin said.
Pippen had a worried look on his face as he looked at the earth bender. "Sure." Pippen says, who then leaves.
As the doors close behind Pippen, Lin walks to Denethor as he continued to eat his meal.
"What do you want?" Denethor asks, without even looking.
Lin flips the table on its side with her earth bending, and pulled Denethor from his chair and threw him on the ground, pinning him against the floor.
"What is the meaning of this?" Denethor asks.
"Some leader, and father you are. Sending your own son and others on a suicide mission, that just failed. They didn't get close to Osgilith! The city was lost!" Lin shouted.
"Osgilith needed to be retaken. Boromir would have held it." Denethor says.
"Boromir would have made the right call, like Faramir did. Would you have been angry, or said 'good job?' You're no leader." Lin says.
"This is my city and these are my people! Why should it matter to you? This isn't your world at all!" Denathor says.
"I know when not to waste lives, when it's the right call to fight another day." Lin says, who then walked towards the door, but stops and turns to Denethor, who was getting up.
"Things like this have a way of bitting you in the ass. As you watch your city fall, ask yourself 'was sending my son to die really worth it.'" Lin coldly says as he leaves the great hall.
Everyone in the city watches as the Mordor armed forces walk towards Minas Tirith, the trolls beating their drums in a rhythm.
"Gandalf, I have a question." Lin said.
"What is it?" Gandalf asked.
"How come the civilians weren't evacuated? Why are they still here?" Lin asked, knowing having civilians in a warzone was a bad idea.
"I don't know." Gandalf said.
"Open the gate, quick!" a Gondor shouted, and a single horse walks thru the gate, dragging Faramir, who's body is pierced by arrows.
The orc-leader, Gothmog, rides among his troops on a warg and looks very pleased. He dismounts his warg and approaches his second in command, an orc with two skulls sticking out of its head.
"Fear. The city is rank with it. Let us ease their pain. Release the prisoners." Gothmog says, and evil smile on his face.
"Catapults!" the orc shouted.
The catapults fire and their projectiles fly towards the city. The soldiers raised their shields from what is heading toward them… the heads of the dead Gondor soldiers from Osgilith. One lands next to Lin and she looks at it…his face in a state of fear as his face is shown to be screaming.
"Motherfucker." Lin says, trying not to throw up. This was gruesome shit. Lin moves to another part of the wall, and vomits. She stands up just to see the trolls load their catapults with massive boulders.
"Son of a-" A soldier says, as the catapults fire their deadly rounds. The boulders start crashing into the city, killing civilians and soldiers, and sending the survivors into a state of panic.
Just when things couldn't get any worse, Lin hears Denethor yell at the top of his lungs.
"FLEE! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!" Denethor yells.
Lin watches as the soldiers look around in confusion, wondering if they should obey that order or not. Than a second later, Gandalf starts giving the orders.
"RETURN TO YOUR POSTS!" Gandalf shouts, renewing the soldier's spirits.
The soldiers get to their positions and stand ready to fight against their enemy.
"Send these foul creatures to the abyss!" Gandalf orders, and at that moment, the trebuchets and archers start returning fire, killing several orcs in the process.
Lin watches as a trebuchet across from her position is loaded with a boulder, and released. Lin watches the boulder and stretches her arms forward. The boulder stops in mid-air, inches away from Lin, as she catches it with her earth bending. She then spins the boulder around to build up momentum, and throws it right back at the orc army.
Everyone watches in awe of what they saw.
"If you see a boulder heading towards you, get out of its way." Lin says.
The battle continues as both sides fire their trebuchets at each other, and more reinforcements arrive to help those on the first level wall, including Pippen. Just then, a familiar screech erupts above them.
"You've got to be shitting me." Lin says, as she looks up and sees two ring-wraiths approaching the city. The wring-wraiths began to attack the city, destroying a trebuchet and grabbing dozens of soldiers, dropping them from high altitudes to their deaths.
"Hold them back! Do not give into fear! Stand to your posts! Fight!" Gandalf shouts.
"We got siege towards heading right towards us!" Lin shouts, and aims her bow at the troll pushing a tower. Lin releases the arrow and watches it hit the troll… who shrugs it off and continues pushing the tower.
"Aim for the trolls! Kill the trolls! Bring them down!" Gandalf orders the arches, as they redirect their fire at the trolls, killing one troll, but more keep on coming.
"Soldiers, this is gonna suck!" Lin shouts, as she watches a siege tower approach the wall to deliver its orc occupants. The siege tower lowers its ramp and orcs began to pile out, killing anyone in their path. Lin watches where the Orcs are, and using her earth bending, causes the ground underneath the orcs to fall away, sending the orcs to their death, and preventing the siege tower from being useful.
"Pippen, back! Back to the citadel!" Gandalf shouts, seeing Pippen on the scene.
"They called us out to fight." Pippen says, as another siege tower approaches the wall and start to empty its orc passengers.
Lin and Gandalf jump into the fray and start killing orcs left and right, trying to hold the line. Lin parries with an Orc and slashes it across the face, killing it. An orc kicks Lin over a marble bench and is about to kill her, when Lin earth bends the bench and crushes the orc with it.
"Ma'am, we got a problem." A Gondor soldier said, pointing to the gate.
"Fuck me." Lin says.
Three massive horned creatures on chains are pulling something forward. Behind the giant thing, trolls are pushing it forward towards the gate of the city. Piles of orcs are marching close to it, chanting.
"Grong! Grong! Grong! Grong!..."